Sunday, March 25, 2007

100th Anniversary Milano-Sanremo

One of the advantages of living in Italy is also being able to see excellent TV coverage of bike racing. For this race coverage was on both RAI Tre and SKY (in English....but oh my, the commentators are awful). I watched it in Italian on RAI Tre which was actually much more informative and exciting.

The race, run under wet conditions, had some serious mishaps, a reminder how dangerous the sport is and the huge risks the racers take. The most seriously injured was Andrea Moletta, who was one of three in an escape group when he somersaulted violently into a lamppost and low stone wall. He was taken to the hospital with a broken thigh. He was to be transported later to a special clinic for the necessary operation.

Rabobank's Oscar Freire raced very intelligently and jumped at just the right moment in the final sprint on the via Aurelia to beat the best sprinters in the world, including Boonen, McEwen, Zabel, O'Grady and Petacchi.

Photos: two images of MSR; Andrea Moletta (Gerolsteiner) losing control on a turn and wrapping himself around a lamppost, Oscar Freire winning at the line.